


The Injector Worked

by Citron0



Series: SU Movie Alternate Takes [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Moral Dilemmas, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-22 08:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20871476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Citron0/pseuds/Citron0
Summary: AU where everything's exactly the same except for one teensy-weensy little thing: Spinel's injector actually kills all organic life on Earth.





	The Injector Worked

**Author's Note:**

> Spinel *sucks air through teeth*:My bad.  
Steven:yEAH I BET

When the pair of pink gems landed, Steven released his bubble and looked at the landscape. Everything was dead. The ground blackened by the poison, the oceans painted magenta.

‘There was no fixing this, _ was there _?’

"Oh _nonononono_, _what did_ _I_ _do_? I’ve wrecked _everything_."

Tears pricked in his eyes, he wanted _ so badly _ to be mad at her, she _ had _wrecked everything. It was completely sterile, he could see rotting fish disintegrating in the ocean from there.

“_ Why,” _ he couldn’t stop himself from pacing, “Why did you have to bring that injector? This was _ my _ colony, _ my planet _.” He paused, shaking.

His voice cracked as tears fell as easily as the rain, “_ What _ ** _right _ ** _ did you have _ to **destroy **it?”

“_I’m_ _sorry_.”

“I _ know _, I’m not mad.” 

“But what about the poison, what about your planet? What about your happily ever after?!”

“There’s no such thing as happily ever after,” He faced away from her, “I’ll always have more work to do.”

“I guess, _ now _,” his tone was a mixture of grief and annoyance, “It’ll have to be off planet.”

He resumed his pacing, “I just don’t know what I’m gonna do with all the survivors on satellites or elsewhere. I can’t keep them _ here _,” he bit his lip, “Will I have to send them to the zoo? Have a different sector built just for them?”

He sighed, “I guess, more than ever, the Earth is a gem colony-,” Steven kicked a rock, “-might as well use it somehow.”

“Steven?” Was that-?

“Connie?”

“Steven, where are you?”

“Spinel, she’s okay! You mind if I go, I’ll be back.”

“It’s fine.”

“I mean it.”

* * *

“Steven, I saw that huge explosion! I was so worried something happened out there.”

“I’m okay. What about you? How did you even survive?” 

“Lion had us warp above ground.”

“And Beach City?”

“Oh, well, anyone who didn’t make it to the shelters-,” she looked down, there were a lot of casualties, but she couldn’t tell Steven that. 

Before he could respond, Greg’s van pulled up. The doors swung open revealing his family.

“Steven!” They acted as one unit as they rushed to him. 

They weren’t important right then, where was-, “Dad!” The young Diamond heart nearly exploded from weight being lifted off his chest. 

He hugged him tight, “Oh my gosh, you’re okay!”

Greg’s shirt felt damp, “Hey, hey, what’s wrong? It’s my job to worry about you, not the other way around.”

“I was just so worried. The injector almost killed everyone, and soon the air won’t be good enough to breathe-,” Steven paused when he noticed his father’s arm, “Your arm!”

“I just got a little splashed is all. Your old man can take it.” Steven pecked the back of Greg’s limp hand. 

It radiated with light for a brief moment before Greg held it aloft amazed, “Steven, you got your powers back! That’s great!”

Amethyst piped up, “Too bad you can’t do that to the entire planet.”

“I can try.” He leaned down and kissed the dirt. It was moist and stung when he pressed his lips on it. His healing spit had no effect, it was just too much.

“Ow,” He licked his chaps. ‘_That’s better._’

“Dude, I was _ joking_!”

“I see that _ now_.”

* * *

"Knock, knock."

“Oh, _ Steven_, guess who it is.” Three fourths of the Diamond mecha parked on the hill overseeing the destroyed Beach City.

“It’s the Diamonds!”

Steven turned to Spinel and whispered, "Quick, hide!" She was behind a boulder faster than Steven could blink.

"Are we interrupting something?"

The youngest Diamond tried to compose himself, but he found it difficult to hide the grief from his features, "Uh, yeah?"

"Yellow, Blue, White? Wh-what brings you here?" Sweat beaded on his temples.

"Well, Steven," Yellow Diamond began, "We were talking and-," she wafted the air away from her, "-what is that smell?"

"I d-don't smell anything." He made the mistake of breathing in through his nose. '_Ugh,_' he wanted to gag. Everything smelled of rot.

Yellow pinched her nose, "That's because you _live_ here."

He grimaced and partially hid his eyes with his hand, he grumbled, "Not anymore."

"Anyway-," Blue continued but she noticed the hybrid's dour mood, "Oh dear. Steven, is something wrong?" He pulled his hand away, coming off damp, his lip quivered. He didn't want to explode at them, he just needed to say one word.

He could do that, he could do tha-, "**_Yes_**!" Anger, grief, frustration, disgruntlement bubbled to his surface faster than he could ever dream to push it down.

"No, no, wait, I-," he wiped his tears off with his undamaged sleeve.

"Steven, I thought you wanted us Diamonds to be honest about our emotions?" White Diamond probed him.

"Alright, alright! I won't be a hypocrite, I'll-I'll tell you."

He was about to make a move to fetch Spinel, but turned on a dime, "The gem responsible for **this **wants to make amends, so don't freak out when I tell what happened."

"We won't."

He let out a shaky sigh, "Okay, so, long story short. A gem my mom had wronged heard my 'message to the universe' and wanted to take her frustration out on me by trying to kill me, my mom's friends, and kill all the organic life on Earth."

"Did she succeed?" Blue asked cautiously.

He swallowed, "Partially, the reason why the planet smells like-," the word he wanted to say was _vulgar_, "-_this_ is because most of the organic life has been destroyed. I-," he hiccoughed, "-I can't keep living here, it kind of hurts to touch anything that has been _contaminated_. I need to _relocate_."

"Does that mean?" After White asked that, the other Diamonds perked up at the implication.

He frowned, "Yes," his eyes darted to the toxins abundant in the now hot pink ground layers, "I'm moving in."

"All four Diamonds together again, at last!"

"Please don't sound so excited, I'm still grieving the loss of billions of humans and who knows how many plants and animals."

"Oh, right. Sorry, that's _insenstive,_ right?"

He narrowed his eyes at White, "Yes."

"Who was this gem responsible?" Yellow inquired, surveying the damage.

"You might know her," He silently beckoned the smallest gem present to come closer, "Have you ever met Spinel?"

She stepped forward visibly ashamed, "One of Pink's lost treasures," Blue whispered.

"Spinel, don't be afraid. I'll make sure you get fair treatment during and after the trial."

"Trial?"

"Spinel, you killed at least six billion people."

He whispered into where her ears might've been, "Unfortunately, I can't just _do _ what I did with the Diamonds; they had _things_ I could confiscate, you do not."

He took a step back and patted her shoulder, "I forgive you, and I know you want to do better; but you still need to face the consequences of your actions. I can't strip you of all power because you have no power to strip. That being said, I won't let anyone take advantage of you during and after the trial." He wouldn't let her chances of growth be squandered by the justice system.

"Guys," He faced his fellow Diamonds, "can we make it a private trial? This is kind of a _personal subject_ for me." Anything Earth-related probably fell on under that category, it hurt just to think of his former home.

"Of course!" Blue recognized how distraught he was; it was much like her 6000 years of grieving Pink. With Steven on Homeworld, he'll be able to move on or at the very least he won't be forced to see his former home in shambles.

"Definitely!"

"Yours was when you first came to Homeworld." Yellow didn't want him to fall into millennia-long grief like Blue or herself.

"It was, wasn't it?" He calmed some, heart still heavy with guilt and regret.

"Let's go-," he hesitated, "Actually-," he couldn't just leave without doing something about the sparse human populations still on the planet, "-Do you think the Zoo will be able to hold the survivors for now? I have to expand it later, but you think it will hold them until it's built?"

"If not, they can stay in the lobby, Steven."

"Blue, Yellow? I need to send some aquamarines and peridots to gather the survivors, the Earth won't be habitable for very long- not to organics anyway."

White lifted Steven by his shirt, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get you home so you can start expanding your Zoo!" He didn't protest as they left the planet.

Yellow was quick to start making calls. Blue sent out a request on the job board forum, several gems replied immediately. '_Anything for Steven, anything for their Diamonds._'

* * *

Steven sat in his throne furiously typing and sketching away at the blueprints for the Zoo's new installment. He wished he had brought Peridot or Pearl with him, Pearl used the warp occasionally to check up on him, he'd just have to keep going at it until she came back.


End file.
